Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Understanding the Spirit
GospelDrivenLife is summarizing his past Sunday sermon on the early parts of John 14-16 and the Holy Spirit. The whole post is excellent, but I want to pull just a couple of his points for further comment. One of the points he says the text says is
When looking at the implications of the text, Lauterbach says
There is a need for the insitutional trappings of the church, if for no other reason than the law of the land demands it to do everything from pay the staff to hold the real estate. How does a group of people prevent those things from crowding out the genuine work of the church?
I do not know the answer to these questions fully, but I am becoming increasingly convinced that the start is to ask more of our leaders, particularly our lay leaders. We have to place character and spiritual requirements on those that serve in the most mundane of positions - even at the expense of not having all the positions filled.
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: Holy Spirit, church, institution, modest, group
He [ed: The Holy Spirit] is sent with a focus -- the application of the achievements of the cross and empty tomb in forming a new people -- to make real to them the manifest presence of the exalted Christ with all the fruit that comes from that.The Holy Spirit is sent not to attract attention to Himself, but to complete the transformative work of Christ. One of the reasons cessasionists seem afraid of the Holy Spirit (I can speak here being on the edge of this issue) is because so many charismatics focus on the Spirit to the exclusion of the redemptive work of Christ - they seek the gifts seemingly without the cross. Lauterbach describes the Holy Spirit as "modest" - I find that an apt description. As Christ was "humble, even to death on a cross," so the Holy Spirit is humble in giving all attention to Christ.
When looking at the implications of the text, Lauterbach says
The church is a work worthy of God and not humanly achievable. The temptation is for it to degenerate into a sociological institution.I think the greatest challenge facing the church today is to learn how, in an institutional sense, to open itself up to the work of the Holy Spirit. How do we avoid the temptation that Lauterbach mentions?
There is a need for the insitutional trappings of the church, if for no other reason than the law of the land demands it to do everything from pay the staff to hold the real estate. How does a group of people prevent those things from crowding out the genuine work of the church?
I do not know the answer to these questions fully, but I am becoming increasingly convinced that the start is to ask more of our leaders, particularly our lay leaders. We have to place character and spiritual requirements on those that serve in the most mundane of positions - even at the expense of not having all the positions filled.
Cross-posted at How To Be A Christian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: Holy Spirit, church, institution, modest, group
